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Diabetes: Travel Tips

Topic Overview

Travel can make it hard to keep your blood sugar within your target
range because of changes in time zones, meal schedules, and types of foods
available.

Whenever you need to see a doctor away from home, let
him or her know you have
diabetes. And always wear medical
identification. In an emergency, medical identification lets people know that
you have diabetes so they can care for you appropriately if you are unable to
speak.

General travel tips

When you are traveling:

Take extra diabetes medicine,
insulin and injection supplies, high and low blood sugar treatments (including a glucagon kit, if you have one), blood sugar meter
batteries, test strips, and lancets. You may not find your regular supplies
wherever you travel.

Double your normal amount of needed supplies
for short trips. For long trips, have enough extra supplies to last for 2 weeks
more than the length of your trip.

To keep your blood sugar at your
usual level, try to eat and take your medicine as close to your regular
schedule as you can.

Car travel

When you are traveling by car:

Have snacks and drinks with you. Keep
sugar-free drinks and drinks with sugar in an ice cooler.

If
needed, store your insulin in the cooler so that it will stay at a more
constant temperature. Don't let the insulin touch the ice.

Keep
your blood sugar meter at room temperature. Don't leave it in a hot or cold car
or in the sun.

Walk a few minutes every 2 hours to improve the
blood flow in your legs.

Plane travel

When you are flying:

Check with your doctor, if needed, about
changing your medicine dose and timing if you will travel across three or more
time zones.

Stay up to date with airport security rules. When you get ready to go through security, tell the officer that you have diabetes and are carrying diabetes supplies with you. Insulin pumps may set off alarms.

Pack your diabetes supplies in your carry-on bag.
Luggage can get lost and supplies damaged by the temperature extremes in the
baggage area. You will need medical identification or a doctor's prescription
for your needles and syringes to be allowed through airport
security.

Put your insulin bottle (vial), if needed, into a small,
wide-mouth, cool, empty thermos if you are not sure that temperatures will stay
in a range that is safe for your insulin.

Put in half the air you
usually add to the insulin vial, if needed, to adjust for altitude air pressure
changes if you draw up your insulin while flying.

Get up and walk
every hour or so. This will help blood flow in your legs and will make sure
that your insulin works properly.

If you normally use an insulin pump, consider switching to insulin injections during your flight. The change in air pressure may alter how the pump delivers insulin. Also, because of the electronic technology, you may not be allowed to use all of the pump's features during the flight.

International travel

When you are traveling to other countries:

Find out which immunizations are needed for
your trip. Get immunized at least 3 to 4 weeks before you travel. These
shots can increase your blood sugar for a short time.

Visit
your doctor if you take insulin and are traveling overseas. Ask for a letter
stating that you have diabetes and need to carry syringes and other supplies
with you at all times. Also, ask for an extra prescription for your insulin.
Take both with you on your trip to help you pass through customs with your
syringes, needles, and other injection supplies. In some countries, insulin is
available in U-40 concentrations only. If you have to use this concentration,
you will need to use syringes that are designed to dispense this
concentration.

Pack a small disposable container with you to hold
your used lancets and needles (wide-mouth plastic soda pop or water bottles
work well).

Pack a supply of nonprescription medicines (that will
not affect blood sugar levels) to treat minor illnesses such as a
cold.

Pack a language/translation book or other type of aid that
will help you express your diabetes needs to others if you are traveling to a
country where English is not the main language.

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How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.